The Apprentice Mage
by nina-madteaparty
Summary: Lucy embarks on an adventure trying to find a mentor to improve her magic and where else to go to but to the mysterious guild with the best mages, Fairy Tail. Only problem is, where to find them
1. Chapter 1

**The Apprentice Mage**

**Lesson I. Lucy Hearfilia **

A girl sat amidst piles of books in the corner of a dimly lit room. Her beautiful golden hair currently pulled up in a messy ponytail, her face buried in a thick old book and her shoulders scrunched as she hastily browsed through its pages.

"Damn it, I just know it should be written in here somewhere…" she muttered as her dainty fingers continued to flip through the pages. "Yes! Got it!" Removing herself from the corner, she tiptoed to the table near the window and neatly place the book she was holding on top. Dragging the nearby chair and lighting up the lamp, she started reading.

"Fairy Tail is said to be the most powerful guild in Fiore. All members wielding special powers that are said to rival the demon lord, Zeref. While tales of their destructive power had gathered fame as news circulated about the said guild, no one has yet to see where the Fairy Tail Guild is located." Thinking that this does not really help her, the blond sighed but still continued reading. "It is said that onlythose deemed worthy by the Guild Master can be given access to Fairy Tail Latebras" the girl sighed again. "This is not really helping me, you know, come on and give me something useful please?"

After hours of pouring over each page absorbing every bit of information she can find about Fairy Tail, the blonde finally gave up with her search and slumped over the table. How the hell does the Guild Master assess a person as "deemed worthy" if people can't find their guild let alone anyone actually belonging there? The blonde continued to ponder. Trying to get over her dismay over not finding any relevant information that would lead her to the guild, she took a silver key out from her pocket, hold it close to her chest and quietly uttered, "Gate of the Canis Minor, I open thee! Nikora" Suddenly, a weird looking white creature popped out. Its small body shaking as it held out its hands as if to say hi.

"Plue, I miss you so much!" the blonde hugged the mysterious creature. "I'm sorry, I haven't been able to call on you. I promise to train more so we can spend more time together!"

"Puunnn…."

"You're so cute...aren't you?"

"Pun...pun...pun…" the creature called Nikora nicknamed Plue said shakily. As all the things he does appears to be the case.

"You know Plue, you don't make such a good conversationalist, you're a very good listener so that counts in your favor I think."

"Pun...?"

"Yeah, I know. I could just train and get better with my magic so I can summon more spirit friends like you. Now, if only I could get more information about guilds. Do you have any secret societies there where you come from? Like the guilds we have here? There's this one I'm really interested in but there's not much to go around." she said smiling and hugging Plue on her chest. "Punn…."

"I was hoping to train you to speak by the way...It's quite hard trying to decipher all your..." the blonde suddenly stopped speaking when she heard heavy footsteps nearing the room they were currently in. "Oh no, we gotta hide Plue before someone sees us."

Hastily, grabbing the book she left, the blonde clutching her spirit friend hid below the table. The long mantlepiece covering there hiding place effectively concealing them from view. Good thing as by the time they were able to get under the table the door slammed open and a man wearing funny looking coat and an old woman came in. They were speaking in hushed voices that she had to strain her ears to listen to what they were saying.

"Thank you Mrs. Spetto, as the elders ordered, we will need to transfer Ms. Lucy Heartfilia to another secured location." The man wearing the funny looking coat said. He said this almost in a whisper that the blonde almost missed what he was saying.

"Lucy-sama is still learning magic here. If you could tell the elders to please" the old woman, Mrs. Spetto, said before the man interrupted her.

"You haven't told anyone about the incident, have you?"

"I and all the people here don't know much and if we know something more than those you shared to us we won't tell the miss or anyone else for that matter. That is, if what you are telling us is even half the truth." Mrs. Spetto tried to answer calmly. Clearly, from her tone she was not comfortable with speaking to the man.

"Good. Now as I was saying, Ms. Lucy Heartfilia needs to be transferred to another secured location. She will leave once we have completed the arrangements next week."

"Can you give her more time here Sir? She hasn't had any opportunity to have friends and its only been a couple of months since she lived here. The Miss has already been missing out a great deal. Could we at the very least provide her with a home to permanently stay at? Or a place where she could stay a bit longer? All these relocations do not really help the young Miss with her studies. I was hoping if she could stay here longer, I promised that the staffs' children can go here so she can interact with other people. She has not been allowed to go outside. Only us, old people are here to look after her."

"The young Miss is not supposed to make any friends." The man hissed. "Outsiders should not be in contact with her. Surely you know this Mrs. Spetto."

"But the poor young Miss really want to make some progress with her studies. I also promised to introduce her to other kids..."Mrs. Spetto plead.

"No, the elders' orders are final. Ms. Heartfilia will be transferred next week. Please make sure everything is ready by then. I will be going ahead." the man replied with finality moving towards the door. "Goodnight Mrs. Spetto." Mrs. Spetto followed the man and they head towards outside.

Clutching the book and Plue tightly on her chest, the blonde slowly got out from under the table. She barely heard most of the conversation as Mrs. Spetto and the mysterious man were conversing almost in a whisper. However, she was sure she heard of another secured location. Probably, another relocation? It has always been that way for as long she can remember. More importantly, from what she had heard, they plan to do this next week.

She shook her head, feeling a headache coming on as she tried to absorb what she heard from the brief conversation. There was also this mysterious thing that they were talking about which she unfortunately was not able to hear. Something about a forbidden event of some sort.

Staring at both the book and Plue, the blonde heaved another sigh and closed her eyes. Wordlessly muttering to herself, she opened her eyes this time burning with determination, "Lucy Hearfilia will do her best to find Fairy Tail." the blonde said resolutely.

"What do you say to a new adventure Plue? Are you coming with me? You have no choice actually. I'm bringing you with me anyways." she said giggling.

"Pun...pun.."

"I really need to teach you how to talk." the blonde smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

**Lesson II. Plans**

Ever since the night when Lucy heard the conversation between Mrs. Spetto and the mysterious man, she has been contemplating on what to do next. Escaping has not really crossed her mind but her thirst to learn and improve her magic has been overwhelming. She thought she needed to take matters to her own hands. To be honest, moving from one home to another was not really something new for Lucy. But every time she moves from one place to another _secured location_ (as referred to by mister mysterious), her magic studies have always been hampered. Also, it gets really tiring not knowing anything.

For as long as Lucy can remember, she has been housed in various places. Never been allowed outside except if she was supervised in her walks. Even with the supervision, the farthest place she has ever been into was the backyard of the place she was staying at. No one ever tells Lucy anything about her strange living arrangements. It has been that way ever since she was born apparently.

She never met her parents as well. They only told her that both her parents died shortly after she was born. And because she was underage, she was not free to roam around without supervision. Lucy knew they were hiding something from her but out of respect to the people who cared for her, she refrained from asking. Although, she did try asking this before but seeing their uncomfortable expressions, she decided to stop.

After much contemplation, Lucy formulated a plan in her head. She was going to escape before the mysterious man completed whatever arrangement he was talking about. She also needed to be careful in not endangering Mrs. Spetto. Even though she has already made up her mind regarding her escape, she did not want Mrs. Spetto to be blamed or for anything bad happen to her.

The next morning, Lucy pretended like everything was normal. Getting into her routine of eating breakfast, talking with Mrs. Spetto and studying magic. She was glad that her routine allowed her to discretely prepare everything before her planned escape. She read books she thought that would help her survive outside. She knew that she cannot carry them with her and once again she was thankful for her ability to remember things quite easily.

As the days passed, Lucy slowly put her plans into action. She had sneaked into Mrs. Spetto's medicine cabinet the other day and stole the sleeping draught she used to give her whenever Lucy had nightmares and could not sleep throughout the night. The draught allowed her to have a dreamless sleep. She has long stopped taking it but Mrs. Spetto still kept some.

Even though she planned to escape during the night, she had to make sure that she would not check on her and discover she was not in bed. Lucy also knew that there might be persons guarding the perimeter. Using the knowledge she got from books, she converted the sleeping draught into powder and spray which she can use before she leaves and as she go. Sitting next to the window with her book in hand as per usual, she waited for the night to fall…


End file.
